What next? Enough with grimdark!

[Anatúrinbor]

The Emperor's Soul is another really quick read by Sanderson that you could try.

[polishgenius]

Mmm, never heard of those two.

Not necessarily epic medieval fantasy no.

I'm a bit wary of Sanderson because of the last 3 WoT books.

They both get lumped under the 'New Weird' umbrella, though they couldn't be more different from each other.

Steph Swaintson's probably the place to start if you've not read any Mieville or VanderMeer or anything before- definitely off the beaten track, but the main setting, while stuffed deliberately full of anachronisms, is medieval-ish in its main trappings. The main character is a member of a circle of immortals (the Messenger, on account of being able to fly) in an empire fighting against endless hordes of insects yadda yadda, and also addicted to a drug that sends him to another, much weirder, dimension. It's a lot odder than I can describe and a great deal of fun.

Felix Gilman is a difficult writer to nail down - he's written two duologies, Thunderer/Gears of the City about a musician-monk in search of his people's lost god in an infinite city of infinite gods, and The Half-Made World/The Rise of Ransom City, essentially a fantasy Western. He's a writer with a great deal of joy in his words...

[Green Gogol]

They both get lumped under the 'New Weird' umbrella, though they couldn't be more different from each other.

Steph Swaintson's probably the place to start if you've not read any Mieville or VanderMeer or anything before- definitely off the beaten track, but the main setting, while stuffed deliberately full of anachronisms, is medieval-ish in its main trappings. The main character is a member of a circle of immortals (the Messenger, on account of being able to fly) in an empire fighting against endless hordes of insects yadda yadda, and also addicted to a drug that sends him to another, much weirder, dimension. It's a lot odder than I can describe and a great deal of fun.

Felix Gilman is a difficult writer to nail down - he's written two duologies, Thunderer/Gears of the City about a musician-monk in search of his people's lost god in an infinite city of infinite gods, and The Half-Made World/The Rise of Ransom City, essentially a fantasy Western. He's a writer with a great deal of joy in his words...

I will look into that. I tried Mieville's Perdido Street Station thrice, but everytime I just... I don't know, kind of stopped reading it for no good reason.

[polishgenius]

I love Mieville, but if you're getting worn down by the grim stuff, he (certainly his Bas-Lag books) aren't the ones to try right now... Perdido Street Station has the added problem of being as much a travelogue through New Crobuzon as a novel with a plot - great if you love his worldbuilding, as I do, but it's gonna put some people off (The Scar is much better).

[RedEyedGhost]

I will look into that. I tried Mieville's Perdido Street Station thrice, but everytime I just... I don't know, kind of stopped reading it for no good reason.

I've read two of Mieville's books and I can't imagine I'll read any more, but Gilman is one of my favorite authors.

For something much lighter you could try Rachel Aaron's The Legend of Eli Monpress.

[williamjm]

I agree with the Long Price suggestion.

Some other ideas:

The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding (although his other fantasy series, The Braided Path is darker in tone).

Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[Ouroboros]

Three Hearts, Three Lions by Poul Anderson if you don't mind an older series. The Lyonesse series by Jack Vance as well.

[Green Gogol]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Darth Richard II]

I've read two of Mieville's books and I can't imagine I'll read any more, but Gilman is one of my favorite authors.

For something much lighter you could try Rachel Aaron's The Legend of Eli Monpress.

These things. Although Monpress gets ,eh, not as light as it goes on, but you never get rape aliens from space. Plus its finished.

Edit: You don't like Gene Wolfe? I'm afraid then me must be enemies sir!

[Green Gogol]

All right then! Let's choose our weapons. For my part I will take a poisonous flower on a long stalk....

[Procrastimancer]

Really like Fafrd and the Grey Mouser.

And I'm not against depressing stuff. Farseer trilogy was depressing, but in a different way to ASOIAF.

I just get the impression that Martin is writing the worst possible outcome for every scene. He set his character in a situation, let's you imagine the outcome according to traditional fantasy, then tells you that you are wrong, and crush your hope. My feeling is that he painted himself in a corner. In the first book, it was interesting to go against fantasy tropes. But now it's become the norm in his book, and he can't reverse the rend without betraying his readers.

If you like Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, then you might want to look into Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I've only read the first book (this one collects the first two of the series) and thought it was weak, but I am in the minority. One of the things I liked about it, however, was its strong Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser vibe. It is short and light and I can't recall anything remotely depressing.

I'm going to agree with polishgenius:

Malazan is in some places more outright sad than Malazan, but it's more epic tragedy than the continuous grind of aSoIaF, so it's worth a try I guess.

There is certainly some depressing shit that happens in that series, but it isn't constant. I think the first book is pretty safe, actually. The ones after that you might want to hold off on... The Chain of Dogs is harsh.

[Clueless Northman]

Avoid Silmaillion at all cost :D

And Abercrombie's First Law is worse than ASOIAF, I'd say, if you don't like things to go really bad. I mean, come on, Martin isn't that a horrible person, he lets some baddies die as well, sometimes gruesomely, and things have gone pretty well for Dany since the end of AGOT.

[Green Gogol]

I would say it's not that things go bad that I dislike. It is rather that everything goes bad, and then worse. And everybody is a selfish a-hole, with no redeeming qualities. I didn't get the same impression while reading the blade itself.

I don't remember a single moment in asoiaf when something good happens.

[SkynJay]

Try Patricia A. McKillip's books. Riddlemaster or The Bards of Bone's Plan for example, though you can't really go wrong with her. No grimdark stuff and they are beautifully written, her style is really evocative.

Yes. Alphabet of Thorn was my entry point.

For something much lighter you could try Rachel Aaron's The Legend of Eli Monpress.

Yes, plus it goes from super light to decently deep as it moves on, without ever losing some of its whimsy.

I agree with the Long Price suggestion.

Some other ideas:

The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding (although his other fantasy series, The Braided Path is darker in tone).

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I keep trying to get people to read Frank Tuttle as well, All the Paths of Shadow was pretty cool. And of course, there is always, Terry Prachett. Not at all Grimdark =)

[RedEyedGhost]

A couple more, now that I'm not on my phone:

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

I agree with the Long Price suggestion.

Some other ideas:

The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding (although his other fantasy series, The Braided Path is darker in tone).

Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay.

I definitely agree with these (I've yet to read the others).

I would say it's not that things go bad that I dislike. It is rather that everything goes bad, and then worse. And everybody is a selfish a-hole, with no redeeming qualities. I didn't get the same impression while reading the blade itself.

I don't remember a single moment in asoiaf when something good happens.

The Blade Itself is cheery compared to the rest of the series.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Roger Zelazny's Amber? There's plenty of arsehole characters, but no gratuitous dark-for-the-sake-of-dark.

[Errant Bard]

Read Pratchett's Small Gods, or any other Discworld book for that matters. I see a bunch of serious to gritty recommendations, but not this light, humorous series? What the hell, guys? :P

Also, for nice feelings, not mentioned yet: Gaiman's Stardust and Brust's Vlad Taltos. Heck, why not throw in some novella like Escape from Hell by Hal Duncan?

Also, about asoiaf, you say:

Martin lets you imagine the outcome according to traditional fantasy, then tells you that you are wrong, and crush your hope. My feeling is that he painted himself in a corner. In the first book, it was interesting to go against fantasy tropes.

I suggest you look at ASOIAF in a new way, that is, understand that Martin does not go against Fantasy tropes: teen heroes traditionally always have their parent die tragically, and a bit of their family, enough to lose power to some scheming traitor and go into hiding, hidden heir and stuff you know, then they go on a journey fraught with peril, learn they are special, have magical power and what not, often enough stop to train at the warrior/assassin/gladiator school of badassery, then come back to beat the dark lord, sorting out the human traitors on the way. That's exactly what is happening, ASOIAF is the most traditional story ever.

[RedEyedGhost]

Read Pratchett's Small Gods, or any other Discworld book for that matters. I see a bunch of serious to gritty recommendations, but not this light, humorous series? What the hell, guys?

Might this be why? :P

Didn't enjoy Pratchett too much.

[Errant Bard]

Might this be why? :P

Oh snap! :leaving:

(seriously, how did I miss that, sorry)

[red snow]

I agree with the Long Price suggestion.

Some other ideas:

The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding (although his other fantasy series, The Braided Path is darker in tone).

Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay.

I think the tales of Ketty Jay would be a fine choice especially given the reasons you don't like ADWD. The characters get into some pretty unpleasant scrapes but it's done with a sense of fun and the characters bounce off one another. I'd also say it tends to have overly bright outcomes to most of their adventures. I can remember reading the second and third books and thinking "this is like anti-grim and gritty".

Shadows of the Apt is also a series where the good/bad outcomes are a lot more balanced. Book 4 is pretty dark though.

The long price Quartet is a great book but I'm not sure about it for you in terms of your dislike of bad things happening. Abrahams doesn't relish it in the sense that some other authors do but characters and the world get put through the wringer.

Neil Gaiman's books are more fairytale like in that while dark in places it's mainly "fun".

Name of the wind is fairly innocuous. Some horrible things happen but the author almost buries that information in the prose, so in that respect is the opposite to a lot of Grimdark. I just found the second half of that book to be dull. The sequel was a lot better though,

Don't read - Richard Morgan, Bakker, Abercrombie or Mark Lawrence though. All are excellent at worse case scenarios for their characters.